Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 640,203 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,217,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.10% of Accenture at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 2.2%

Accenture stock opened at $309.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $302.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $339.97. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $382.14.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.